Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Stuff: Materiality and Fragility of Dharma 1. Buddhist Objects, Buddhist Bodies-An Outline Part II: Histories: Instances of Religious Destruction in East Asia 2. Iconoclasm and Religious Violence in Japan: Practices and Rationalizations Fabio Rambelli 3. Shattered on the Rock of Ages: Western Iconoclasm and Chinese Modernity Eric Reinders 4. Ways of Not Seeing: Cultural Redefinition and Iconoclasm Part III: Theories: Rethinking the Relations Between the Sacred and Destruction 5. Orders of Destruction: Iconoclasm, Semioclasm, Hieroclasm Conclusion: Destruction and Cultural Systems Notes Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

A study of Buddhism and iconoclasm in East Asia as part of a general theory of religious destruction.

About the Author

Fabio Rambelli is Professor and International Shinto Foundation Chair of Shinto Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, and Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. Eric Reinders is Associate Professor in the Department of Religion, at Emory University, USA.

Reviews

An extremely important publication and a major contribution to Religious Studies, Buddhist Studies, Asian Studies, East Asian History, Art History/Visual Culture, and Cultural Studies. It is precisely the sort of book that many scholars in these fields, and especially those who work across them, have been waiting for. The topic is one of great significance and timeliness, the approach is methodological and theoretically sophisticated, and the authors are sensitive to the cultural and historical specificity of their cases as well as to the wider implications of their work for the comparative analysis of iconoclasm, religion, and violence.
*D. Max Moerman, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA*

This book offers readers a richly textured history of East Asian visual cultures. But, the authors' semiotic turn also provides us with valuable new ways to approach the study of cultures across historical periods, geographical areas, and academic disciplines.
*Dr Richard Clay, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Birmingham, UK*

This book makes an important contribution to the fields of cultural and religious studies, East Asian history, art history, and semiotics, and will be thoroughly enjoyed by both specialists and senior graduate students.
*The Medieval History Journal*